Current Evidence for Clinical Efficacy of Platelet-Rich Plasma in Aesthetic Surgery: A Systematic Review
November 2016
in “
Aesthetic surgery journal
”
TLDR The document concludes that the effectiveness of platelet rich plasma in aesthetic surgery is unclear due to inconsistent reporting and lack of objective measures in studies.
The document reviewed the use of platelet rich plasma (PRP) in aesthetic surgery and found that while PRP is claimed to be effective in 95% of the studies, objective measures were only used in 47% of them. The review included 38 reports with applications in aging skin (29%), scalp alopecia (26%), lipofilling (21%), fractional laser (13%), and facial surgery (11%). The majority of studies were case series without controls, and there was a lack of consistent reporting on PRP preparation, composition, and activation. Only 18% of studies clarified platelet concentration, and the activation mechanism was described in 71% of studies, while anticoagulation was detailed in 47%. Due to the context-dependent results and inconsistent reporting, meaningful meta-analysis was deemed unrealistic, and the authors recommended a set of descriptors, FIT PAAW, to standardize reporting and better understand PRP's effectiveness.